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2009 Season - Carthage picks up pair of close wins over Vikings in CCIW baseball action

ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – The Vikings lost a pair of close games to Carthage in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin baseball action on Saturday, April 18 at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The Red Men took game one by a score of 6-4 in 11 innings and then withstood a furious Viking comeback in the second game to pick up a 7-5 victory.Augustana is now 21-10 overall and 8-6 in the CCIW while Carthage moved to 21-5 and 12-1.

GAME 1 – CARTHAGE 6, AUGUSTANA 4

Carthage pushed across two runs in the top of the 11th inning off Augustana reliever Josiah Martin (Canton HS, Canton, Ill.) to win a hard fought 6-4 decision.

The Vikings were trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth when they tied it on a double to left field by Aaron Hopson (Rockford Boylan HS, Rockford, Ill.). Hopson’s hit drove in pinch runner Mike Barker (Grandview HS, Centennial, Colorado). With one out in the frame Myles Kurnick (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) singled. John Vezzetti (LaSalle Peru HS, Peru, Ill.) hit into a force play and Barker came in as a runner for him.

John Wagle (Rock Island HS, Rock island, Ill.) gave Augustana a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he homered off Carthage starter Tracie Ruffie. That would be the lone Viking hit for the first four innings. The Red Men took a 2-1 lead with two runs in the top of the second inning and then added a single run in the fifth. In the bottom of the inning Vezzetti’s ground out brought home Dave Hoffman (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.), who had singled to lead things off.

In the sixth the Vikings tied things up when Don Hansen (Cary Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) singled to lead off. He went to second on an infield out and scored on Wagle’s double down the right field line.

That lead didn’t last long as John Lequia homered for Carthage with one out in the top of the seventh. The Vikings tied the game in the ninth before falling in extra innings.

Mike Trotta (Niles Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) worked nine innings and gave up four runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts. Martin was tagged with the loss. Wagle, Hoffman and Kurnick each had two hits for Augustana.

GAME 2 – CARTHAGE 7, AUGUSTANA 5

Carthage broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fifth inning with seven runs off Viking starter Matt Erickson (Marmion Academy, Channahon, Ill.). In the inning the Red Men had five hits and got help from two Augustana errors and a passed ball. The big blow was a grand slam home run off the bat of Mike Hughes.

Down by seven runs, Eric Izzo (Lockport HS, Lockport, Ill.) hit a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-2. In the bottom of the seventh Don Hansen (Cary Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) launched a two run home run and John Wagle (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) singled in another to trim the margin to 7-5.

The Vikings were unable to score in either of the eighth or the ninth, however.